He didn't get it.

Frustration pulsed through her body, and for a moment, she felt the urge to kick the bars. Just stay quiet? Don't be mouthy? If it were that easy, she wouldn't be as banged up as she was now.

Biting the insides of her cheeks, Soleil swiped up the bag of chocolates, though, this time she didn't bother to look at him. Just the pitiful bag he offered in replacement for weeks worth of torture.

"...Thanks."

It's been 8 months, 9 days, and 15 hours.

Avery has been gone for the past two months and counting. Soleil, tired and alone, kept to the corner of the cell block. Her knees were kept pressed up to her chest, and a shudder raked her body.

The clothes that once formally hugged her body were all rip and torn, revealing the months of neglect and abuse underneath. Her face, which was once clear of any blemishes, was now littered with tiny scratches and healed scars. One, in particular, marked up the left-most side of her face, starting out at the peak of the cheekbone and trailing down til past her lips, almost like a line of contour.


The most apparent difference in appearance, however, was the cloth eye patch that now wrapped around her head, covering her left eye.

The clicking of the door made her flinch, and for a second, her body propelled into fight or flight. This bloodrush only lasted a dwindling 3 seconds, as each footstep reminded her inability to do either.

When the person's voice finally broke the silence, Soleil doesn't reply, but rather, ducked her head further behind her knees. 

And he was right, she didn't reply. She couldn't. Her voice had gone hoarse from the night before, and even if it hadn't, she wouldn't want to even see him. It'd only make the pain so much worse than it had already become. 

Turning towards the wall she clung to, she only further buried her face in-between herself and its cold cement blocks.

When she looked back up, the man is gone.

Left without uttering another word.

Some parts of her feel relieved-- relieved he wouldn't have to see her like this anymore. But, the other part of her felt the hurt of abandonment curl up inside her. The shame of having hope in someone.

A small trickle of warmth slipped down her cheek.

When the door clicked open a second time, Soleil instinctively flinched further into her shell of a body, burying her head further into the fortress of her arms.

There, tangled up, she waited.

And waited.

But nothing came from it-- no screams or demands to stand up against the wall. Nothing.

Slow and cautious, she peered out through her overgrown bangs.

It was @aver.

She didn't say anything at first. The residue of her tears still warmed up her cheeks, and like before, she didn't have the courage to meet him the way she was now. Shattered and beaten.

Half expecting to hear his footsteps echo out towards the door within the next 5 minutes, she stayed where she was, curled up and defensive against all attempts of persuasion. But those footsteps never came.

"...you're back."

"...Why?"



It was a question that burned a hole in the back of her mind for the last several months.



Why did he help her so much? And, if he cared, then why did he leave?